“Put your affairs in order.” Words gripping the souls of husband and wife as the doctor pronounced that, although further palliative measures could be taken, this was a terminal illness. Disease was not a stranger to the couple as both had survived cancer and he had fought through several heart attacks, but those five words had a finality not experienced before. On a new level, they agreed with the words of Dr. Jill Ker Conway describing the inevitability that her generation-older husband would likely die before she did: “We all live on the brink of mortality,”

Put your affairs in order. Words that jolt us out of the false sense of security we possess—likely brought about by an equally false sense of control. Surely our dedication to exercise and healthy diet, our reliance on the best medical advice possible, our Invictus attitude (“I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul”), even our belief that God can miraculously intervene, all these somehow mask the reality that death comes to all.

But for followers of Jesus, it is not only possible but necessary to spend a lifetime putting our affairs in order. We consistently choose to believe that God is good and loving, just and merciful. We choose to base both small and large decisions on patterns observed in Jesus’ life. We make a practice of confession, repentance and holy living. We dig deep into the Bible to see God’s faithfulness through the ages as revealed in the lives of men and women just like ourselves. In the midst of recognizing the painful reality of death, we choose to believe that eternal life isn’t an existence that begins at the point of death, but—as Jesus affirmed—eternal life is knowing (understanding, acknowledging, experiencing). (John 17:3) “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Eternal life is one continuous experience of putting our affairs in order!

By Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission

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